Robert Olds of Windsor and Suffield, CT and His Descendants
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Robert Olds of Windsor and Suffield, CT and his descendants An evolving electronic document by Dan W. Olds Spartanburg, SC June 18, 2002 PREFACE The family of Robert Old of Windsor and Suffield, CT, has been most fully reported in The Olds (Old, Ould) Family in England and America by Edson B. Olds (Washington, DC, 1915). That publication provides the family structure for most of this document. Edson B. Olds’ work, although mostly correct, provides rather little in terms of documentation – at least by the standards of today. Of course, it also provides nothing on later generations. The greatly increased availability of genealogical materia l in the for m of family history books, abstracted public and private documents, indices and other research aids, and the wide range of internet data collections and correspondence encourages the hope of improving upon the work of E. B. Olds. I began that attempt over fifty years ago and one result is this document. There are now at least thirteen generations of this Olds family in America. The immigrant Robert Olds had fourteen known children and fifty-five known grandchildren. All of these were born with the surname Old(s). Using a factor of 50 for each two generations yields a calculated 15 billion descendants by generation 13. This did not happen, even with the presumed duplications for multiple lines of descent, but is an example from the puzzle I pose for myself about the proper scope for this project. Should it be have a limited goal and, if so, what? Among other ways, the project might reasonably be limited by date (all descendants born before 1850, perhaps), by generation (through the eighth generation, say), by surname (only those inheriting the Olds surname, perhaps), or (even more egocentrically) by closeness to my own line of descent (my ancestors and their siblings, perhaps). A combination of methods might be used such as following all descendants for five generations, continuing with the Olds surname only until 1850, then continuing with the descendants of John Hixon Olds, my great-grandfather. These are theoretical methods of limitation. A practical limit comes from the time, money, and effort required to obtain, connect and report various data items. This limita tion tends to focus the project on New England (where data is usually easier to gather), on earlier generations (because of the limited numbers and because of the many connections to be proven for later family members), and on the Olds surname (because it easily gets my attention in any record collection and is the one constant known from the beginning). Because of these practical considerations, I have adopted a format which does not assign an Arabic (continuation) number to a child unless either the mother or the father bore the surname Olds. This means that I will create a numbered paragraph for the children of Olds daughters but not the grandchildren. In addition, however, I will trace all descendants of my own great-great-great grandfather, Jonathan Olds who married Lucy Wood and Joanna Keith. Most of their children moved to Illinois before further dispersion. The results of this research have evolved, through many changes of goal and format, into the present, electronic, form. As an electronic document, this presentation changes much more rapidly than a traditional publication would. It has been presented in a variety of formats, styles, and contents. Recent versions therefore include a date on each page to help with the identification. What others have sha red with me, I am glad to share with you in the hope that through continued exchange we will improve the scope, accuracy and documentation of our knowledge of this family. Dan W. Olds ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Robert Olds of Windsor and Suffield, CT ................................................ 1 Second Generation (CHILDREN) .....................................................3 Third Generation (GRANDCHILDREN) ................................................ 8 Fourth Generation (GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN) ......................................19 Fifth Generation (GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN) ................................. 41 Sixth Generation (GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN) .......................... 77 Seventh Generation (4th-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN) .................................. 135 Eighth Generation (5th great GRANDCHILDREN) ...................................... 193 Ninth generation (6th great grandchildren) .............................................227 Eleventh Generation (8th great grandchildren) ..........................................239 Twelfth Generation (9th great grandchildren) ...........................................241 Appendix A. 1900 Bryant Reunion. .................................................. 245 Appendix B. Olds Miscellany. ...................................................... 253 Appendix C. Olds Line in England .................................................. 264 INDEX ....................................................................... 268 iii Robert Olds of Windsor and Suffield, CT and his descendants The history of this branch of the Olds family was the major component of at least one genealogy.1 The immigrant, Robert Ould (Old, etc.) was said to be a son of John and __________ (Gatherest) Old of Sherborne, Co. Dorset, England. Robert was born there in 1645. His father was buried at Hillfield, 15 Jan. 1682, and his mother was buried at Chard, 29 May 1660.2 Although I have examined some of the parish registers and tax lists there, I have found no record of this Robert Old in England. The English connection is based on an English pedigree showing Robert Ould was born in 1645, moved to America and settled in New Windsor.3 1. Robert Old is first found in America at Windsor, CT, in 1667 as an apprentice to Jacob Drake (perhaps he should be described as a servant; need to know more about Drake, as well). On 19 Feb. 1667, Noah Drake agreed to pay Robert Ould's 30 shilling fine for night walking.4 Robert Old was to pay this back to his master and if "he falls into transgression while he remaynes servant to Jacob Drake, he is to pay instead of his thirty shillings, the sum of three pounds." He married Susannah Hanford on 31 Dec. 1669.5 His household size was 2 on 7 March 1670.6 They had two children born at Windsor 7. Although there is no record of his having held land at Windsor, "Robert Old, of Windsor, in the County of Hartford, has assigned and made over to Thos. Bissell of Windsor all his estate to take out as much as is due to himself and to allow to the wife of Robert Old out of the rest of the estate as she desires for herself and children. Dated Oct. 27, 1673". 8 Robert Old was one of the five founders of Suffield, CT , in 1670 where he was granted (allowed to purchase for 4 pence per acre) fifty acres of land on Jan. 26, 1670.9 It was in 1673 that he moved to Suffield.10 He lived on the part of Northampton Road later called Old Street. In 1696, "Goodman" Old made bricks, and built the chimney for the minister's house. In 1696, he was appointed town agent to manage the town's case before the General Assembly. The town was poor and unable to pay its colonial tax. Due to his efforts, the taxes were forgiven. He appears to have been a prominent man of the town, one of the first five proprietors, owning 50 acres at the corner of Northampton Road and New Haven Road, adjoining the old cemetery. However, he was not qualified to vote at the first town meeting and probably was never made a freeman.11 It is unknown how he got the title Dr. Robert Old and what this title meant. Susannah (Hanford) Old died 6 Jan. 168812 and Robert married Dorothy Granger on 1 April 168913 14 (i.e. three months later). She was a daughter of Launcelot Granger who was born in 1620, married Joanna 1 Edson B. Olds, The Olds (Old, Ould) Family in Engl and and America, (published by Edson B. Olds, Washington, DC, 1915). 2 Olds, p. 34 3 Olds, p. 14. 4 Record of Hartford Quarterly Court, p. 72, quoted in Olds, op. cit., p. 15. 5 Welles, Edwin Stanley, ed., Births, Marriages and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor, and Fairfield, and entered in the Early Land Records of the Colony of Connecticut. Volumes I and II of Land Records and No. D of Colonial Deeds, (Hartford, Conn., 1898), p. 12. From Windsor marriages, folio 45, of the entries in Vol. I, 1640-1653. Her name is given as Susan. 6 Holbrook, Jay Mack, Connecticut Colonists, Windsor, 1635 - 1703 (Oxford, Mass., 1986), p. 194 7 Stiles, Henry R., The History of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut, ... , 1635-1891, Vol. II, The Genealogies, (Press of the Case, Lockwood, and Brainard Company, 1892), p. 537-38. 8 Olds, p. 14 9 Robert Hayden Alcorn, The Biography of a Town, Suffield, Connecticut, 1670 -1970, p. 9. 10 Gowen, Bela E., Genealogy of the Olds Family (compiled in 1952 and known to me only from a photocopy supplied by Ken Haughton, Los Gatos, CA, in 1986), p. 10 11 Sheldon, Hezekiah S., Documentary History of Suffield in the Colony and Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1660-1749 (1879), pp. 17, 44-45. 12 Stiles, op. cit., p. 538. He gives the surname as Hosford. 13 Olds, op. cit., p. 55. 14 Barbour Collection, Connecticut Vital Records, Suffield, Births - Marriages - Deaths, 1674 - 1850 (a 1928 typescript in the Conn. State Library), pp. 195-197. Descendants of Robert Olds by Dan W. Olds, 313 Pinelake Court, Spartanburg, SC 29301 June 18, 2002 page 1 Adams in 1654, and died 3 Sept. 168915. Sheldon applies the death date, 16 Jan. 1727/8, to this Robert Old, although the same date has been given for his son Robert.16 17 The town records quoted below make it clear that it was the first Robert Olds who died on this date. The following is from a typed copy of page 3, Vol. 1 of the Suffield Vital Records, sent by Dorothy K. McCarty, Town Clerk, in her letter to me dated Nov.